Schoeters talked to Kerti Tergem, who translated her internationally acclaimed novel "Trophy" into Estonian, and reflected on everything from the relationship between Dutch and Flemish to the colonial themes explored in her

Schoeters explained that although Flemish, spoken in one half of Belgium, and Dutch, spoken in the Netherlands, to the north, are essentially the same language, subtle differences in vocabulary and pronunciation – she gave as an example the term for the very type of sofa they were sitting on to deliver the talk – mean Flemish writers are constantly aware of writing for readers across the border. With most major publishers based in the Netherlands, authors from Flanders often adapt their language to ensure it is understood by a wider Dutch-speaking audience. She compared the situation to countries where regional dialects coexist with a standardized literary language.

Originally trained as a conference interpreter, Schoeters said she loved the intensity of simultaneous translation but eventually realized that life stuck inside interpreting booths did not suit her restless curiosity. Wanting to experience the world firsthand rather than observe it through glass led her into journalism, television and ultimately fiction.

That background also shaped her views on literary translation. With "Trophy" now available in more than 20 languages, Schoeters has highlighted translators by interviewing them for her website, arguing that international readers encounter an author through the translator's voice. Their questions, she said, often reveal whether a novel's emotional core has survived translation while exposing aspects of the text that even the author had overlooked.

The discussion also explored how fiction differs from journalism. Schoeters argued that while factual reporting is essential, readers often keep real-world events at an emotional distance. Fiction instead places them inside another person's perspective, creating empathy in ways news reporting sometimes cannot.

Although she had wanted to become a writer since adolescence, Schoeters admitted her early image of the profession was more one of being a romantic member of a literati set, than reflecting reality. Encouraged to pursue a practical career, she first became an interpreter and journalist before television introduced her to scriptwriting. She later worked as both a journalist and reality TV director, despite never having a TV when she was growing up, and observing people in crisis alongside police officers as one of her jobs. While those experiences proved invaluable, ethical concerns about reality television eventually pushed her toward fiction full-time.

Television nevertheless left a lasting impression. Schoeters said popular drama can reach audiences that literary fiction never will, making it possible to introduce social issues to millions while continuing to write more personal novels free from commercial expectations.

Much of the conversation centered on "Trophy", a psychological novel that begins with an American businessman travelling to southern Africa to complete the "Big Five" collection of hunting trophies (namely a lion, a leopard, an elephant, a rhino and a cape buffalo, to which a sixth animal is added in this story's case) before taking a darker turn. Schoeters said she never intended to write about trophy hunting until she encountered conservation programs funded via expensive hunting permits. The moral contradiction of assigning monetary value to endangered animals became the novel's starting point for her.

Rather than focusing on hunting itself, she became interested in why an otherwise ordinary person would spend enormous sums pursuing such an experience. That curiosity shaped the protagonist, Hunter White, whose worldview readers gradually inhabit. Schoeters, who said she "talked to White in her head for three years" before putting pen to paper, said she prefers finding common ground with characters whose beliefs she strongly opposes, allowing their motivations to emerge before judging them.

Despite the evocative African landscapes, Schoeters revealed she had never visited the continent before writing the novel. Pandemic travel restrictions forced her to rely on research, but she later concluded that distance benefited the book. Rather than portraying Africa itself, she wanted to depict the imagined Africa created through a colonial European perspective. Keeping the setting deliberately unspecified emphasized that the novel examines Western projections rather than any particular country or culture.

Research into colonial literature, photography and hunting memoirs convinced Schoeters that many colonial assumptions remain deeply embedded in European culture – as a Belgian she was able to draw from that country's (in)famous legacy in the Congo, which achieved its independence in the 1960s. The novel deliberately adopts familiar colonial storytelling conventions before exposing the ideas beneath them, encouraging readers to recognize how easily they can be drawn into the protagonist's reasoning before questioning their own assumptions.

That approach was reinforced by translators. One pointed out a scene in which the protagonist imagines discovering untouched wilderness while overlooking the local guide walking directly ahead of him. Schoeters admitted she had initially shared the character's blind spot, reinforcing her belief that fiction can expose unconscious ways of thinking more effectively than direct argument.

The novel also explores masculinity, power and humanity's relationship with nature, and owes a debt to both Conrad and Hemingway, in the latter case his preferred rifle of choice finds its way into "Trophy" too. Schoeters described hunting as a ritual, combining dominance and identity, particularly for men seeking traditional expressions of masculinity in a modern world. She also contrasts Western ideas of humanity standing above nature with cultures that see people as existing within it.

The book's spiral-like structure was equally deliberate, she said. As Hunter abandons rational calculation and becomes increasingly driven by instinct, the narrative shifts away from a straightforward linear progression. Schoeters said she knew the ending before she began writing but allowed the characters to determine how they reached it, believing convincing fiction requires characters who appear to act independently.

She also discussed her more recent novel "Gift", inspired by a real political dispute over elephant conservation in another African nation, Botswana. What began as a news story evolved into a satirical novel imagining thousands of elephants arriving in Berlin, combining political comedy with environmental themes.

Travel has remained central to Schoeters' life and writing. Before turning to fiction she traveled more than 30,000 kilometers by motorcycle through the Middle East and Asia, experiences that challenged assumptions shaped by Western news coverage. Encountering everyday life in countries often associated with conflict convinced her that direct experience is a powerful antidote to fear and stereotypes while making her more aware of Western privilege and of how often Europeans assume they have more to teach than to learn.

The 17th edition of the HeadRead festival took place in Tallinn at the end of May, with conversations featuring international and Estonian authors broadcast as part of ERR's "Kirjanduse aeg" series. Viewers can watch the full discussion with Gaea Schoeters in English via the video player at the top of the article.

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